From Berlin With Love
by Orange Lantern Tsume
Summary: (AU) Officer Cornelius Fillmore is assigned to help German transfer student Ingrid von Zell adjust to her new surroundings. But with her stubborn attitude & his loss of a friend, will they get along? R&R!


From Berlin With Love

By Blackheart Syaoran

AUTHOR: Hope this story is liked, because I know it's worth something.

Summary: Officer Cornelius Fillmore is assigned to help transfer student Ingrid adjust to her new surroundings. But with her stubborn personality and his loss of a friend, can they get along together? They won't fall in love, will they?

Chapter 1: An Angel From Afar

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

/

Sighing, Fillmore took the sheet of paper and crushed it up before tossing it into his wastebasket. It had taken five previous attempts to reach yet another dead end, but now he had. He didn't know why, but writing to his old partner was more difficult than he had thought.

"Think I should take a break, Polonius?" Fillmore asked his pet goldfish.

Instead of answering, the animal merely carried out his usual routine of swimming on circles and opening his mouth repeatedly. Fillmore glanced at the pen he held, thinking that maybe he was inwardly afraid of making a mistake. He supposed that a pencil would be better suited for writing to Wayne, then, and so he made the switch. Pencil in hand, he then pulled a fresh sheet of paper from a desk drawer and held the pencil tip above it, ready to write.

And found that he couldn't.

Again.

"Problem, Fillmore?" Joseph Anza asked, coming over and taking a seat on Fillmore's desk.

"I can't think of what to write to Wayne about. I don't think he'd care to hear that X is still having criminal problems."

Anza nodded. "I know what you mean. Maybe you should tell him about O'Farrell's recent hair issues."

Fillmore grinned. Danny O'Farrell, though a good kid at heart, was constantly the butt of Safety Patrol jokes. He was just the perfect patsy.

"How's Polonius doing?" Anza asked.

"Fine. Why?"

"I'm thinking maybe you should get him a lady-fish friend. Know what I mean?"

Fillmore shook his head. "Much as I'd like to, I'm fine with just Polonius. Besides, according to _Hamlet_, the guy didn't have a wife."

Anza shrugged. "Doesn't matter, really. It'd be a fish, so any name would do."

"Fillmore, quit fraternizing and get into my office, now!" Junior Commissioner Vallejo yelled.

Sighing, Fillmore rose, saying goodbye to Anza before entering his superior's office. "There a problem, Vallejo?"

Vallejo plopped into his chair, looking rather strained. "Fillmore, I just got off the phone with Folsom. She isn't happy with our work lately, and wants me to reassign one of the guys."

Fillmore frowned. "Reassign to where?"

Vallejo sighed. "Some new student just transferred here from overseas. Folsom wants you to make them feel all welcome."

"Really?"

"Folsom is serious about this one, Fillmore. This kid's tests were compared to those of every kid in this school, including our former friend Parnassus, and you wouldn't believe what the results were."

"Let me guess: Smart."

Vallejo laughed. "Smartest. This kid's I.Q. is unbelievable. Each test had extra writings on it, where the kid ridiculed the test, the test-makers, and the people administering the test—all without getting in the least bit of trouble."

"Talk about toeing the line."

"Tell me about it. Anyway, Folsom wants you to escort the kid around for a while and show 'em the ropes."

"When's this guy getting here?"

Vallejo glanced at his clock. "It's 8:00, so any minute. The father called and said he was having trouble convincing the kid to come to school."

Fillmore laughed. _Kid must really hate school_, he thought. "Should I head to Folsom's office?"

"Get to the auditorium. Folsom is making a big intro for the poor sap."

Nodding, Fillmore left.

/

_Verdammte auslanders_, the girl thought as she moved through the crowded hallway, attracting stares. Personally, she wasn't very concerned; she didn't even want to be in X Middle School. It was her father that had made her.

Reaching her assigned locker, she carelessly entered the combination only to have the door swing open and reveal a girl dressed in an atrocious red-and-black uniform.

_Vas—?_ the transfer student thought, just as the "locker girl" began talking.

"Welcome to X Middle School, Ingrid von Zell!" the outlandishly-dressed girl cried cheerily. Before Ingrid could stop her, the girl had given her a tight hug. "We at X hope you enjoy your stay here! If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask! And just to show how much we at X appreciate you, here's a cookie, just for you! It's X-Middle-School-ilicious!"

Ingrid stared at the girl, both shocked and outraged. Her gaze shifted back and forth from the cookie in the girl's outstretched hands to the girl's insipid smile. Scowling, she snatched the X-shaped, black-and-white snack item from the girl's hands.

"There you go!" the girl said, still in that annoying tone. "Hope you like—mmph!"

The girl was rudely cut off as Ingrid jammed the cookie into her mouth, and then proceeded to shove her aside. Examining the interior of her locker and finding nothing worthwhile, she slammed it shut and made to leave when a black motor cart pulled up in front of her. At the driver's seat was a bespectacled man, and a blonde woman in blue business attire sat in the back seat.

"Ingrid," she said, and then continued in mangled German, "welcome to X Middle School. I'm Principal Folsom, and this is Vice Principal Raycliffe. Why don't you ride with us to your formal introduction to the school? It's much faster than walking."

Ingrid narrowed her eyes at the woman. Even though she had just met the woman, she despised Folsom for two reasons: Her ugly suit and her mangling of a perfectly good language. Deciding not to get a letter sent home because she acted cold to the principal on the first day, Ingrid reluctantly climbed into the back of the cart, and Raycliffe began driving.

"So, Ingrid," Folsom said, starting up a conversation, still in crude German, "plan on joining any clubs while you're here?"

Ingrid eyed the woman before answering, though in her usual perfect German, "I plan on joining the club of Folsom-haters."

Folsom seemed put off by her lack of knowing just what exactly Ingrid had said. She pulled out a small German/English dictionary, and tried to find the right word. Scowling, she said in English, "Oh, who cares?" before going back to German. "That sounds like fun," she said, smiling at Ingrid.

_Idiot_, Ingrid mentally spat in English. _Couldn't take a five-minute online tutorial in German. Probably a cheap woman_. "Do I have to go through with this?"

Folsom took a moment to respond, mentally translating from German to English. "I don't see why not. It'll be fun."

More bad German. The woman was a threat to the language. Ingrid made a mental note to publish an article on Folsom, with explicit details on how to quarantine her and undo the inevitable damage.

"Ah, we're here," Folsom smiled as the cart slowed to a halt. "Let's go, Ingrid. Don't want to disappoint the school, do we?"

Ingrid decided that she needed to buy soundproof earplugs for whenever she was around Foolish Folsom. As the woman principal exited the cart, Ingrid followed, not particularly eager to be put on stage like a goat at auction. The pair entered through the auditorium's side entrance, crossing to the middle of the stage, where Folsom chose to stand at the lectern while Ingrid stood a few feet away.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Ingrid von Zell," she introduced. "She's a transfer student from Berlin, Germany. I want you all to make her feel very welcome here at X—after the hazing, of course."

Ingrid's eyes widened at that last bit. She'd watched enough American movies to know what Folsom had said.

The paper balls came flying at her, and she comically held up her arms in a gesture of self-defense. After all, she wasn't used to having paper balls hurled at her; back in Berlin, she and her classmates had merely taken their copies of the school paper, rolled it up, and hit each other with it.

When the throwing stopped, Ingrid lowered her arms and glared heatedly at everyone. "_Dumbkopfs_!" she hissed.

The student audience exchanged looks of confusion before Folsom said, "Ah, yes, I should have mentioned that Ingrid prefers to speak only German." She glanced at the clock. "Well, you can all get back to homeroom now. And you little cretins better behave yourselves!"

As the audience left, Folsom went over to Ingrid, placing a hand on her shoulder as she started to speak in yet more lousy German. "There, now, that wasn't so bad, was it, Ingrid?"

In response, Ingrid gave the woman a look that would have killed. Folsom either didn't notice or didn't care, for she looked towards the side entrance and smiled.

"Officer Fillmore, how good of you to show up. Here's your new best friend. I hope you two get along well. Oh, and you'll be needing this." Folsom handed Fillmore the German/English dictionary, but the Safety Patroller didn't look at the cover as he took it. "Now, I have to get back to work. Don't disappoint me, Officer Fillmore."

"I won't," he said easily, and watched her leave before turning his attention to Ingrid. "What's happening? I'm Cornelius Fillmore, but people just call me Fillmore. I didn't catch your name."

Eyeing him coolly, Ingrid said tersely, "Ingrid von Zell." That done, she moved past him, adding in German, "I'm hungry. Show me where the snack machines are." When he didn't move, watching her with a cocked eyebrow, she snapped, "_Schnell_!"

Fillmore sighed. "It's gonna be a long day, baby."

/

AUTHOR: How was it? Good, bad, or both? Or, worst of all, neither? Let me know what you people think.

I'll explain the whole name change thing, but let me answer the possible question of why Ingrid's acting out of character: She's in a different country entirely, she doesn't really want to be in school with people who can't understand her, and she has no friends. Just to name a few reasons. Trust me in that she'll be a wonderful character anyway. She's German; there's no possible way she could suck.

NEXT: Fillmore tries to deal with his newly acquired "lady troubles," but doing so is harder than he thought, even with help. Ingrid is targeted for membership into an exclusive club, one that might not take no for an answer. On top of it all, Anza seems to making moves on the new girl, while Fillmore does a little digging.

READ N REVIEW!


End file.
